Chapter 3
Allie underestimated how nervous she'd feel.
Knox offered a friendly greeting when he met her in the lobby. But once they got in the SUV, neither of them spoke a word to each other except for a few exchanges about inputting the address into the GPS and which route they should take.
The clock on the dash display stated they'd been driving for four minutes. But the uncomfortable silence made it feel like an hour. She smoothed her hands on her thighs for the third time. Were they sweating? Or was that her imagination?
His silence unnerved her. She knew their rapport had changed. But she expected some professional conversation or small talk—anything but this strained wall between them.
Their winding uphill route drew them deeper into a jungle of endless shades of green dotted with small explosions of red, orange, yellow, and pink.
She discreetly observed him while she tried to decide whether she should start an innocuous conversation about the tropical scenery.
His broad shoulders were tight. As was his grip on the steering wheel.
His face, taut with intense concentration, stared straight ahead, like the road could explain the mysteries of life to him.
They finally arrived at a small rocky overlook adjacent to some of Byron Industries's land. Knox pulled into one of only four parking spots and turned off the engine. But he didn't get out. He leaned his head against the headrest, still staring straight ahead.
The view of the island and ocean below was breathtaking. But she was certain Knox hadn't noticed. Five silent seconds passed. And that was more than she could stand. Was this some kind of cold-shoulder treatment?
If he was trying to torture her, he was doing an excellent job.
She unfastened her seatbelt and pivoted toward him. "Knox . . . " What? What did she want to say? What else did she have the courage to say? "Knox?"
He finally turned his head toward her with more kindness in his eyes than she'd expected.
"We need to talk. To get some things straight.
" He pursed his lips and threw a glance out the windshield.
"We should get this drone footage first. But before we go back, you have to listen to what I have to say.
" He sucked in a breath like he regretted the words.
"I mean, please. Please hear me out. Okay? "
"Yes. Okay." Wow. The seriousness in his voice surprised her. But at least he wanted to talk. She could wait a few more minutes for that. "Yeah. Um, I'll get the drone ready."
She unbuckled and got out of the car. She willed her body to move straight to the back hatch and retrieve the drone, but her mind was still whirling around everything she had just seen—every inch of Knox—forehead, eyes, arms, shoulders—everything screamed tension.
They'd worked together long enough to give her a good baseline of his stress levels.
She could read his body language well. It was his thoughts she couldn't decipher.
Knox took the controls while she set the drone on the ground a few feet away. Moments later, it took off with a slight whirring sound and soared a hundred feet in the air.
"Okay," he said. "Go ahead and open the app on the laptop. We can download all the video in real time so we don't have to do it after we get back."
"Good idea." She opened the app and confirmed the video feed was downloading. "It looks good."
"Thanks." He glanced around. "I can handle the drone. Will you keep a lookout? I want to steer clear of any tourists. We'll relocate if we need to."
"Yeah. No problem."
She paced around the small parking area pretending to admire the view—well, she wasn't really pretending. The view was gorgeous. But she was concentrating more on the road and surrounding area. From studying the map Rowan had tracked down, she knew two hiking trails led to this overlook.
Knox was smart to have Rowan locate the paper maps.
Their satellite images couldn't provide a map of the hiking trails due to the thick jungle on this part of the island.
She wasn't sure how popular the trails were, but she needed to keep an eye out for hikers.
Or anyone else who might question their drone activity.
Byron's land was a narrow, fifteen-acre strip of jungle they'd purchased two months ago. From what she could see, they hadn't touched it. Maybe the drone would find more.
She hated to think they'd cut down all that lush vegetation.
Maybe they wouldn't. Maybe they planned to use the dense jungle to hide their nefarious activities.
If they were, in fact, nefarious. No real proof of wrongdoing had been found.
But the resort owners and the FBI were notably concerned, so yeah, Byron was probably up to something.
If they weren't, her stint working with Knox in this tropical paradise might be very short.
A rustling in the thick mass of broadleaf trees to her right grabbed her attention.
She froze—except for her hand inching toward her holster, just in case.
Hopefully, it was only hikers who'd wandered off a trail.
She was shocked when six monkeys skittered out of the dense foliage and crossed the road.
"Making friends?" Knox called out.
"Very funny. They startled me. Very cute though. I think—"
The unmistakable crack of a rifle sounded. Not in the immediate vicinity, but . . .
Knox's head whipped to the video feed. "That was near the drone."
Another shot sounded.
Knox kept his eyes on the video feed and the drone controls, but he called out to Allie. "Grab the laptop. Get in the car. I see this guy. On the video."
Another shot.
"He's trying to shoot down the drone."
She grabbed the laptop and ran back to the SUV. Knox was jogging over, still working the controls.
"You drive," he said. "I'm getting some good footage."
"You're not going to land it?"
"No, not yet."
She had so many questions. But she trusted his instincts. She tossed the laptop in the backseat, slid behind the wheel and started the engine. "Which way?"
"South."
Toward the rifle shots. Of course.
Allie pulled onto the road. Thankfully, there were no cars in sight.
"How fast do you want me to drive? I don't want to get you too far away from the drone."
Another rifle report sounded. Much closer than before.
Knox smiled. "These guys couldn't hit the side of a barn."
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. Where do you want me to go? This road turns away from the Byron land soon. Should I turn around?"
"No," he responded without looking up from the display on the remote control. "Slow down. Just go about another half mile."
"Okay." She slowed to twenty miles per hour. If the shooters were on foot, they were probably close now. "What are you seeing? Are they—"
Another shot cracked. This one much louder than the others. And the sickening sound a half-second later terrified her. Knox let out an anguished howl, and his body slammed against his seat.
"Knox!" She stomped on the brakes. Fear yanked the air from her lungs. "Knox!"
He turned to her, looking frustrated. And a little sheepish. "They hit the drone."
It took a handful of seconds before she convinced herself Knox wasn't bleeding. His frustration—not a bullet—had thrown him against his seat.
He gave a groaning sigh. "I really don't want to tell Rowan his drone was shot down."
That's what he was worried about? She didn't even think; she just slugged him in the shoulder as hard as she could. Well, almost as hard as she could.
"I thought you'd been shot! Don't do that!"
His face flushed. "Sorry. I'm sorry." He motioned toward the road. "Get us out of here. They might look for us. They know that whoever was flying the drone isn't far away. And we don't want to face those guys right now."
She nodded and started driving. But she needed her adrenaline to settle before she said anything more.
She kept her eyes on the road, but she could sense Knox staring at her.
Maybe her silence was bothering him this time.
Right now she didn't mind if he was a little bothered. He'd scared her to death.
"Hey, Allie, I really am sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that."
"And slammed yourself against your seat with your eyes closed."
"Yeah, that too. Sorry."
She exhaled a long breath as she merged onto a larger road. "I know. I shouldn't have overreacted." And yeah, now that her adrenaline was subsiding, she replayed the last minute with more clarity. She really did overreact. A bullet would've broken a window. Her panicked brain hadn't computed that.
This was embarrassing. She panicked? This was new.
Why? Because of the gunshots? Was it PTSD from being shot? Or was it because the thought of losing Knox terrified her so much?
Not that he was hers to lose. He wasn't, of course. But she still cared about him. And the thought of . . . Okay, she needed to pivot to work-mode. Now was not the time to analyze her feelings about anything.
She checked her rearview mirror. Not being followed. Good. She took a deep breath to help her refocus. "Please tell me you got some clear footage of the shooters' faces."
She sensed him relax a little. "Yeah," he nodded, "that I did.
" He reached into the backseat and grabbed the laptop.
He flipped it open, and she heard his fingers flying over the keys.
"Oh yes, Jason is going to love this. Four guys.
The two guys with rifles, plus two others.
Rowan will be able to run their faces. The images are clear. "
He sighed and closed the laptop. "Knowing who is on Byron land will be helpful in figuring out what these guys are up to.
However," he leaned back in his seat with a humorless laugh, "I doubt shooting a low-flying drone over your private property is a crime on Isadora.
The government and the resort owners value privacy above anything else. "
He returned the laptop to the back seat. "By the way, in case it wasn't obvious in the briefing this morning, the resort owners own the government on the Morghana islands."
"So there's no reason to report them for shooting down the drone?"
"Not unless we want to get laughed at and told we shouldn't have been flying a drone over their property. The resort owners want us to find something substantial on Byron. They're not going to poke the bear for something like this."
"Got it." She glanced at him. "Back to the hotel?"
"Yeah. Rowan needs to get started on analyzing that." He jabbed a thumb toward the laptop behind her seat.
A comfortable silence filled the next couple of minutes, but the closer they got to the hotel, the more she felt Knox's earlier tension returning.
When they arrived, she chose a spot near the back of the hotel, away from most of the pedestrian traffic. Because—
"Hey," Knox said before she could open her door.
She was right. He wanted to talk. She was thankful for the private parking spot she had found. She would've felt like they were on display parked in front of the hotel.
He reached toward her hand, then drew back. The motion pricked her heart—she wasn't used to seeing a less-than-confident Knox Coulter.
He cleared his throat. "Listen, Allie, we need to get this laptop to Rowan ASAP, but afterward, unless Jason needs us for something, we need to talk. Okay?"
She felt herself nod. "Yes, okay."
Relief trickled through her. Even though she was unsure what Knox was going to say, and she was certain it wouldn't be a comfortable conversation, she was definitely looking forward to quelling the awkwardness between them.
She wouldn't be at her best on this assignment until the tension dissipated.